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According to Coming Home Newcastle sources (read: the internet), Newcastle United and Montpellier have agreed a fee for 23-year-old playmaker Remy Cabella. Cabella has seemingly been the primary target for Newcastle United in the January Negotiation Window (as I shall choose to call this particular period of transfer speculation). Reports today surely must be encouraging for Toon supporters as it gives hope that our very own Bedo Fif (Best Director of Football in Football, you may remember) might actually be able to "get one over the line". The positives run a little deeper as well if you voted on the fearful side of Robert's poll question yesterday.
The reports of Cabella's move have morphed and shifted over the last several hours but seem to have settled into accepting the following as fact:
- An agreement affirming that Montpellier will sell Cabella to NUFC has been reached
- This transfer will not happen prior to the end of the season (June)
- Relevant fees have not been finalized
Some time back when Soccernomics was the book on everyone's lips, many discussions were had about how Newcastle United were taking many leads from Lyon with regards to player recruitment. This purported agreement will fulfill several of the tenets of the Soccernomics model, namely:
- The best time to buy a player is when he is in his early twenties.
- Sell any player when another club offers more than he is worth.
- Replace your best players even before you sell them
Of course Cabella's age (23) fits in with the first statement - but the revealing parts will be the second and third when you view them in tandem. Obviously the "sell any player" doesn't apply directly to Cabella at this point, but it does apply to Yohan Cabaye, the player he is meant to replace on our roster. Cabaye's form this season is much more on the level of his 11/12 season form which saw him as one of the hotter midfield commodities in the Premier League which is in turn fueling rumors of a £21m+ move to longtime admirers PSG. You'll recall that Arsenal reportedly weren't willing to even match half of this valuation when they "turned the player's head" before the start of this campaign which ultimately lead to this win-win situation that he and the club are now in. While the PSG rumors are and always have been and always will be there because column inches, everything is lining up to confirm what we thought we knew all along: Yohan Cabaye and Newcastle United will see out their "Gentlemen's Agreement" that he will stay to the end of the season at which time he will be sold - apparently to PSG - and be replaced - apparently by Cabella. There are still days left in the Transfer Negotiation Window of course, but failing a stupid money-type last minute bid (think Andy Carroll) it looks like the story is exactly what we have thought it to be. Now it's down to hope that the Cabella deal doesn't go the way of the Gomis deal...
